Star Wars actor John Boyega openly criticized Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi describing it as “a bit iffy.”
In an interview with Hypebeast, Boyega notes that The Force Awakens was “the beginning of something quite solid” before criticizing The Last Jedi.
“The Force Awakens I think was the beginning of something quite solid, The Last Jedi if I’m being honest I’d say that was feeling a bit iffy for me.”
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Boyega also makes it clear he did not “agree with a lot of the choices” in The Last Jedi.
“I didn’t necessarily agree with a lot of the choices in that and that’s something that spoke to Mark [Hamill] a lot about and we had conversations about it. And it was hard for all of us, because we were separated.”
Star Wars icon Mark Hamill has been quite open about criticism of Johnson’s The Last Jedi.
In an interview in March, Hamill noted how Rian Johnson wanted him to completely ignore C-3PO in one scene. He also proceeded to mock the film’s tagline.
“They had me walking by 3PO, not even acknowledging him. I said: “I can’t do that! He (The Last Jedi’s director, Rian Johnson) said, “Okay, go over and do whatever.” So I went over, and I did whatever. They say it in the script: “Forget the past, kill it if you have to”, and they’re doing a pretty good job!’”
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Boyega didn’t stop with criticism of The Last Jedi, he also openly criticizes The Rise of Skywalker noting that the original trilogy established Han, Luke, and Leia much better than the sequel trilogy has done with Rey, Finn, and Poe.
“I guess the original Star Wars films there was much more of a trio feel where it was essentially about Luke’s journey, but Han and Leia there was a strong dynamic, which I think, I don’t know how quickly we’re going to be able to establish that longterm dynamic with [Episode] Nine. But if it’s exploring that dynamic, then that would be cool.”
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He then adds:
“I do feel even after three films still, we don’t know them as much as we got to know Han, Luke, Leia. And maybe that’s a great opportunity to get to know them a little bit more.”
Not only did Boyega discuss his criticisms of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, but he also talked about his interactions on social media with Star Wars fans describing it as complicated.
“It gets very, very complicated to handle things from Star Wars fans, because of how much the words can be twisted to mean something entirely different.”
He detailed one encounter on Twitter where he was giving as much as he was taking with one fan.
“I have a fan who hates the films, right? And he’ll be rude directly to me and I’ll be rude back and then they start crying like babies. Then they’re like, ‘Why are you attacking me?’ And it’s like I thought we was on the same page. I thought we’re just going at it, we’re Star Wars fans, we’re supposed to be heated about this.”
Boyega added:
“You’ve got to take what you can give. I don’t care what profession you’re in. That’s a mantra for life.”
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He then contrasted this experience with his interactions with fans at conventions.
“The rest of the fandom, even when they have problems with it, it’s discussed in a very cordial way, in a fun way. But when it gets toxic, when no one’s listening and then I say one thing and then it becomes an attack, come on man, I can tell you lot ain’t never had no real fight before. You call that an attack?”
What do you make of Boyega’s recent comments about The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars fans?